Plant Cuttings
Cupins: What are they for?
First, we ought to say what cupins are: cupins are proteins, part of a so-called superfamily that includes enzymes and non-enzyme polypeptides. Since the
Plant Cuttings
The interconnectedness of plant studies
Have you ever wondered how the monthly Plant Cuttings’ collection comes to be? Do you think Mr P Cuttings knows in advance what he’s going
Plant Cuttings
Decision time: Inorganic or Organic..?
Plants need appropriate amounts of essential nutrients if they are to grow fully and generate the yield of which they are capable. Quite often, however, one
Plant Cuttings
A fresh look at guard cell walls
Arguably, one of the best known ‘structure-function’ relationships in plant biology is the role played by cellulose microfibrils within the walls of the guard cells
Plant Cuttings
Botany, a load of rubbish?
Caught your attention? No, I’m not about to rubbish Botany, but this item does focus on a particular type of biological ‘rubbish’, leaf-litter.
Plant Cuttings
Good things come in small packages
And few eukaryotic things are smaller than diatoms, unicellular algae that are common, numerous and taxonomically extremely diverse, particularly in the oceans. Small? Yes, typically 20
Plant Cuttings
Curious case of Cape coprobotany
Now, and please be honest, if you saw an article entitled, “Faecal mimicry by seeds ensures dispersal by dung beetles” you’d want to read it, right?
Plant Cuttings
Plants and Pinatubo, Prestahnukur, Popocatépetl…
Plants are generally sessile organisms that, unlike their puny animal ‘cousins’, can’t get up and run away if the environment is not to their liking.
Plant Cuttings
Burning trees? Give me a break…
The high flammability of plant material, fuelled by photosynthesis and oxygen production, poses a significant problem, especially in wildfires.
Plant Cuttings
Coping with phenol-rich foodstuffs
Researchers discovered that earthworms produce drilodefensins, metabolites that counteract the inhibitory effects of polyphenols on their gut enzymes, enabling them to digest these well-defended leaves.
Plant Cuttings
Noble plant wins Nobel Prize!
A lack of a Nobel prize in Biology makes botanical Nobel prizes rare.
Plant Cuttings
All’s fir in love and war
Nigel Chaffey discovers there is a fountain of youth, but only if you’re a firebug.